LAS VEGAS — This is the UFC 137 live blog for the four non-televised bouts in support of tonight’s UFC pay-per-view card at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Round 1: Lots of circling early as Jacoby circles the outside of the cage. Starks lands a right cross but Jacoby takes it well. Tight right by Jacoby moments later. Starks answers back. Action is slow-paced but most of the strikes thrown have been power shots. Both men working hard with their footwork to cut off angles. Starks counters a hook with a right hand that scores. Starks goes to the body. One minute left. Starks chases Jacoby across the cage but doesn’t land much. Starks scores a takedown with :30 left. Jacoby hunts a kimura but Starks defends as the round closes. It’s Starks, 10-9.
Round 2: Hard right hand early by Jacoby, his best strike of the fight so far. Starks circles away, and looks fine. Jacoby uses a spinning heel kick that only partially connects. Left hook from Jacoby. Starks times a right that scores as Jacoby leans in. Starks takes Jacoby down with two minutes left. Jacoby does a good job keeping a tight guard but Starks occasionally sneaks in a right hand to the body or head. The late second is all Starks’, and he steals it away 10-9.
Round 3: The straight right is Starks’ money punch, and he lands it again early. The two exchange. Jacoby lands a knee from the clinch. Moments later, Starks shoots and takes him down. Jacoby keeps a tight guard but he’s behind and probably needs to be more aggressive. Starks passes to half-guard. Jacoby again looks for the kimura. Starks finally works his arm out of danger with 30 seconds left and lands some punches from the top. He’s going to take the round 10-9.
Winner: Clifford Starks via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Francis Carmont vs. Chris Camozzi
Round 1: Carmont walks out with welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre in his corner to make his UFC debut. Carmont takes Camozzi down inside the first minute, but Camozzi uses the wall to get back to his feet. Camozzi pushes Carmont against the cage. Carmont punches his way out of the position. Camozzi tries to bully him again, pushing him into the corner. Carmont lands a few knees to the body. Carmont pulls Camozzi down but Camozzi pops right back up. Carmont throws a knee, then a pair of elbows. He’s showing some diverse offense. Relatively close round but Carmont takes it 10-9.
Round 2: Carmont lands a right hand and Camozzi moves inside to initiate the clinch against the fence. Carmont likes knees from in tight, and he’s landed a few any time he has the space. Camozzi is trying hard to crowd him. Carmont lands a right hand, backing Camozzi up. A nice exchange and Carmont gets the better of it. Carmont goes for the takedown, picks up Camozzi and slams him down on his back. Carmont on top with strikes and over a minute to work. Carmont looked up at the clock, Camozzi tried to take the opportunity to get up, and Carmont dropped him with a left hook. Carmont tried to finish but Camozzi covered up. Big round for Carmont 10-9.
Round 3: Carmont lands a series of strikes early. He backed up and Camozzi audibly swore, giving the crowd a laugh. Carmont is taking over the fight with his standup. Camozzi’s face has been bloodied since the second round and Carmont looks pretty much unmarked. Another Carmont takedown with two minutes left. Hammer strikes from the top until he pulls Carmont into his guard. Carmont lets him up and Camozzi comes up with a flying knee into a clinch. Time’s running short. Camozzi nearly had a kimura as time ran out. Carmont 10-9.
Winner: Francis Carmont via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Danny Downes vs. Ramsey Nijem,
Round 1: Left hook by Nijem to open things. Nijem flurries in with a combination, the moves in for the takedown. Downes gets back up but Nijem tags him again with right hands. Nijem scores another takedown. Downes works free for a moment before Nijem drags him down. We’re up and down like musical chairs. Nijem finally takes Downes’ back and looks for the rear naked choke. Downes defends that but Nijem throws strikes to free up his neck. He looks for the choke again. Downes gets free with over a minute left. He has little time to accomplish anything. Nijem takes him down again and gets right to his back. It’s a very one-sided round, and it’s Nijem’s 10-9.
Round 2: Much better start to round two for Downes, who briefly had Nijem in an inverted triangle. Nijem got free though, and took Downes to the ground again. He immediately mounted Downes, who gave up his back. Nijem went for the rear naked choke again. Downes fought it off. Nijem looked for an Americana, Downes scrambled free. Nijem’s basically having his way with him, even if he can’t get the finish. He’s been riding Downes’ back for most of the round. Downes is surviving, but it’s one-sided, 10-9.
Round 3: Nijem faked a takedown and fired off some offense that landed. Downes circled away but Nijem followed him for another takedown. The round then settles into the same thing that’s come before it. Nijem in top position looking for a finish but Downes resisting. Another rear naked choke try from Nijem. With this one, he had the body triangle in and still couldn’t finish. It’s going the distance, and it’s going to be Nijem’s 10-9. Could easily be a 10-8 as well.
Winner: Ramsey Nijem via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27)
Brandon Vera vs. Eliot Marshall
Round 1: Vera attacking the legs and body early with kicks. Vera then jumps into a flying knee. They clinch against the cage until Vera pushes off and they re-set in the middle. Marshall flurries with a combo, and Vera answers with a right cross before another clinch. It’s a stalemate and the ref breaks them up with a minute left. Vera still attacking the legs with low kicks. Marshall tries a high kick near the final horn that misses. Vera takes a slow round 10-9.
Round 2: Pace picks up to start the second. Vera just misses on a head kick and Marshall goes low, looking for the takedown. Marshall grinds him into the fence. The two jockey for position until Vera takes him down with three minutes left. Vera to half-guard, and drops elbows from the position. Marshall gets back to his feet and Vera fires off a hard knee from the clinch. They move back to the center with 20 seconds left. Marshall connects with a left hook near the close. It’s Vera’s 10-9.
Round 3: Marshall staggers Vera early with a right hand. Marshall then drops him with a right. Vera is in trouble as Marshall throws blows from the top. Vera covers up and gets to his feet. Marshall lands another hard left hand before Vera can initiate a clinch and give himself recovery time.
LAS VEGAS — This is the UFC 137 live blog for the four non-televised bouts in support of tonight’s UFC pay-per-view card at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Round 1: Lots of circling early as Jacoby circles the outside of the cage. Starks lands a right cross but Jacoby takes it well. Tight right by Jacoby moments later. Starks answers back. Action is slow-paced but most of the strikes thrown have been power shots. Both men working hard with their footwork to cut off angles. Starks counters a hook with a right hand that scores. Starks goes to the body. One minute left. Starks chases Jacoby across the cage but doesn’t land much. Starks scores a takedown with :30 left. Jacoby hunts a kimura but Starks defends as the round closes. It’s Starks, 10-9.
Round 2: Hard right hand early by Jacoby, his best strike of the fight so far. Starks circles away, and looks fine. Jacoby uses a spinning heel kick that only partially connects. Left hook from Jacoby. Starks times a right that scores as Jacoby leans in. Starks takes Jacoby down with two minutes left. Jacoby does a good job keeping a tight guard but Starks occasionally sneaks in a right hand to the body or head. The late second is all Starks’, and he steals it away 10-9.
Round 3: The straight right is Starks’ money punch, and he lands it again early. The two exchange. Jacoby lands a knee from the clinch. Moments later, Starks shoots and takes him down. Jacoby keeps a tight guard but he’s behind and probably needs to be more aggressive. Starks passes to half-guard. Jacoby again looks for the kimura. Starks finally works his arm out of danger with 30 seconds left and lands some punches from the top. He’s going to take the round 10-9.
Winner: Clifford Starks via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Francis Carmont vs. Chris Camozzi
Round 1: Carmont walks out with welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre in his corner to make his UFC debut. Carmont takes Camozzi down inside the first minute, but Camozzi uses the wall to get back to his feet. Camozzi pushes Carmont against the cage. Carmont punches his way out of the position. Camozzi tries to bully him again, pushing him into the corner. Carmont lands a few knees to the body. Carmont pulls Camozzi down but Camozzi pops right back up. Carmont throws a knee, then a pair of elbows. He’s showing some diverse offense. Relatively close round but Carmont takes it 10-9.
Round 2: Carmont lands a right hand and Camozzi moves inside to initiate the clinch against the fence. Carmont likes knees from in tight, and he’s landed a few any time he has the space. Camozzi is trying hard to crowd him. Carmont lands a right hand, backing Camozzi up. A nice exchange and Carmont gets the better of it. Carmont goes for the takedown, picks up Camozzi and slams him down on his back. Carmont on top with strikes and over a minute to work. Carmont looked up at the clock, Camozzi tried to take the opportunity to get up, and Carmont dropped him with a left hook. Carmont tried to finish but Camozzi covered up. Big round for Carmont 10-9.
Round 3: Carmont lands a series of strikes early. He backed up and Camozzi audibly swore, giving the crowd a laugh. Carmont is taking over the fight with his standup. Camozzi’s face has been bloodied since the second round and Carmont looks pretty much unmarked. Another Carmont takedown with two minutes left. Hammer strikes from the top until he pulls Carmont into his guard. Carmont lets him up and Camozzi comes up with a flying knee into a clinch. Time’s running short. Camozzi nearly had a kimura as time ran out. Carmont 10-9.
Winner: Francis Carmont via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Danny Downes vs. Ramsey Nijem,
Round 1: Left hook by Nijem to open things. Nijem flurries in with a combination, the moves in for the takedown. Downes gets back up but Nijem tags him again with right hands. Nijem scores another takedown. Downes works free for a moment before Nijem drags him down. We’re up and down like musical chairs. Nijem finally takes Downes’ back and looks for the rear naked choke. Downes defends that but Nijem throws strikes to free up his neck. He looks for the choke again. Downes gets free with over a minute left. He has little time to accomplish anything. Nijem takes him down again and gets right to his back. It’s a very one-sided round, and it’s Nijem’s 10-9.
Round 2: Much better start to round two for Downes, who briefly had Nijem in an inverted triangle. Nijem got free though, and took Downes to the ground again. He immediately mounted Downes, who gave up his back. Nijem went for the rear naked choke again. Downes fought it off. Nijem looked for an Americana, Downes scrambled free. Nijem’s basically having his way with him, even if he can’t get the finish. He’s been riding Downes’ back for most of the round. Downes is surviving, but it’s one-sided, 10-9.
Round 3: Nijem faked a takedown and fired off some offense that landed. Downes circled away but Nijem followed him for another takedown. The round then settles into the same thing that’s come before it. Nijem in top position looking for a finish but Downes resisting. Another rear naked choke try from Nijem. With this one, he had the body triangle in and still couldn’t finish. It’s going the distance, and it’s going to be Nijem’s 10-9. Could easily be a 10-8 as well.
Winner: Ramsey Nijem via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27)
Brandon Vera vs. Eliot Marshall
Round 1: Vera attacking the legs and body early with kicks. Vera then jumps into a flying knee. They clinch against the cage until Vera pushes off and they re-set in the middle. Marshall flurries with a combo, and Vera answers with a right cross before another clinch. It’s a stalemate and the ref breaks them up with a minute left. Vera still attacking the legs with low kicks. Marshall tries a high kick near the final horn that misses. Vera takes a slow round 10-9.
Round 2: Pace picks up to start the second. Vera just misses on a head kick and Marshall goes low, looking for the takedown. Marshall grinds him into the fence. The two jockey for position until Vera takes him down with three minutes left. Vera to half-guard, and drops elbows from the position. Marshall gets back to his feet and Vera fires off a hard knee from the clinch. They move back to the center with 20 seconds left. Marshall connects with a left hook near the close. It’s Vera’s 10-9.
Round 3: Marshall staggers Vera early with a right hand. Marshall then drops him with a right. Vera is in trouble as Marshall throws blows from the top. Vera covers up and gets to his feet. Marshall lands another hard left hand before Vera can initiate a clinch and give himself recovery time.
Ever curious about how Team Alliance got started? Bleacher Report sits down with Brandon Vera, Phil Davis and other teammates to hear how this exciting team came to be.Hear from Brandon Vera as he opens up about how he created a safe haven for lost UFC…
Ever curious about how Team Alliance got started? Bleacher Report sits down with Brandon Vera, Phil Davis and other teammates to hear how this exciting team came to be.
Hear from Brandon Vera as he opens up about how he created a safe haven for lost UFC fighters that were looking for a place to train and develop their skills. Champion Dominick Cruz gives us the insight on how Team Alliance and coach Eric Del Fierro helped him get to the top of the UFC’s bantamweight class.
Hear what some of the teammates had to say about judging in the UFC today. See them talk about everything from take downs and points, to how they perceive scoring in the octagon. Also hear what they think on the potential of fighting in the limelight of New York City.
Watch long-time coach Doug Balzarini give us his breakdown on how his fighters eat, train and prepare for their upcoming UFC fights. Witness all this and more in this Team Alliance interview.
If you like what you see click here for more from Bleacher Report Productions.
With UFC 137 right around the corner, UFC fans across the globe patiently wait for what has potential to be one of the most exciting fight cards of 2011.Despite losing George St-Pierre due to an injury, the remaining card is worth every dollar you’ll s…
With UFC 137 right around the corner, UFC fans across the globe patiently wait for what has potential to be one of the most exciting fight cards of 2011.
Despite losing George St-Pierre due to an injury, the remaining card is worth every dollar you’ll spend.
Like any other event, we’ll see some of the greatest fights of the year and specific fighters establish themselves as legitimate contenders in their respected weight classes.
But, we’ll also see fighters fighting for their jobs as they haven’t lived up to expectations in the UFC.
The following slides display five fighters who will be fighting for their UFC careers come Saturday, October 29th in Las Vegas.
Filed under: UFCThe main event for UFC 137 may have seen its share of tweaking, but it’s not the only fight on this card with high stakes. Several fighters on Saturday night’s lineup could be just one loss away from unemployment, and one or two could e…
The main event for UFC 137 may have seen its share of tweaking, but it’s not the only fight on this card with high stakes. Several fighters on Saturday night’s lineup could be just one loss away from unemployment, and one or two could even be facing retirement if they can’t pull out a win.
Who are they, and what are their chances for crafting a brighter future for themselves in Las Vegas this weekend? For answers, we turn to the Cut List.
Roy Nelson (15-6, 2-2 UFC) Who he’s facing:Mirko Filipovic Why he’s in danger: “Big Country” has lost two straight, and while he might have a very valid reason for looking like a man about to die from exhaustion in his last fight, it still didn’t make a great impression on his employers. You factor in his occasionally obstinate independent streak, not to mention a physique that, rightly or wrongly, the UFC would probably rather not try to present to the world as that of a world-class MMA fighter, and you might be looking at a man that the organization wouldn’t mind doing without. In the plus category, Nelson has a solid fan following, in part because of the very same idiosyncrasies that might make him unappealing at times to the UFC. He’s also a name-brand heavyweight, and the UFC needs all of those that it can get. The infusion of the Strikeforce big men will certainly help bolster the division, but the UFC might still be reluctant to cast off too many heavies while there’s still value left in them. Chances of getting cut: Unlikely. The best thing Nelson has going for him here is the likelihood that he’ll win this fight. Oddsmakers have him as a nearly 3-1 favorite. As long as he’s healthy and focused, he should beat Cro Cop and solidify his employment situation.
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (27-9-2 [1 NC], 4-5 UFC) Who he’s facing: Roy Nelson Why he’s in danger: Like Nelson, Cro Cop has lost two in a row. He’s also at the end of his current UFC contract, and Dana White has implied that he’s only giving Filipovic this fight because he owes it to him. Even if he gets the upset victory, it’s far from guaranteed that the UFC would see enough of a future in the 37-year-old Croat to sign him to a new contract. If he loses, well, he’s already said that he’ll not only leave the UFC, but also apologize to its fans and its front office for failing to “justify the treatment” he’s received. It’s enough to make you wonder, under what circumstances would this not be Filipovic’s final fight in the UFC? Even if he kicks Nelson’s head into the third row, the best possible outcome might be Cro Cop calling it quits anyway and going out on a high note. Then again, rarely does one come across an aging MMA legend who doesn’t interpret a victory as a sure sign that he should keep fighting indefinitely. Chances of getting cut: Very good. But don’t think of it as a cut. Think of it as the natural (even necessary) end of something that we all knew couldn’t last forever. His stay in the UFC has been unspectacular, and his status as a legend is already established. No need to prolong this any further.
Tyson Griffin (15-5, 8-5 UFC) Who he’s facing:Bart Palaszewski Why he’s in danger: Griffin hit the dreaded three-fight skid recently, but managed to save himself by dropping down to featherweight and notching a decision win over Manny Gamburyan back in June. It was enough to grant him a temporary stay, but just barely. Now, facing another WEC transplant, he needs to show he can do more than just get by. The UFC might need featherweights to bolster the relatively thin (ha!) division, but it doesn’t need 145-pounders who can wrestle just well enough to win close, forgettable decisions. Griffin hasn’t had an impressive performance since he knocked out Hermes Franca over two years ago. If he wants a future in the UFC, he needs to show that he can not only get his hand raised, but entertain a few people along the way. Chances of getting cut: Decent. If he loses this fight (oddsmakers doubt he will), he’s almost certainly gone. Fortunately, Palaszewski is weak in all the places where Griffin is strong. If he gets this one to the mat and keeps it there, Griffin will probably stick around for at least a little while longer.
Eliot Marshall (10-3, 3-2 UFC) Who he’s facing: Brandon Vera Why he’s in danger: It’s no secret that UFC officials aren’t big fans of Marshall’s fighting style. If they were, they probably wouldn’t have cut him after a 3-1 stint the first time around. He got back in the fold mostly by volunteering for a short-notice fight against Luiz Cane, which he lost swiftly and thoroughly, but which still earned him the chance to show the UFC what he could do with proper notice and time to prepare. If Marshall loses here, it’s almost guaranteed that he’ll get dropped again. If that happens, he says, he’ll hang up the gloves and call if a career. If that doesn’t give him the necessary sense of desperation to go out and lay it all on the line here, nothing will. Of course, Vera’s looking at a similar situation, yet is a 5-1 favorite to knock Marshall right into retirement. Chances of getting cut: Very good. It’s hard to see how Marshall beats Vera. Perhaps a compelling fight would be enough to keep him around even in defeat, but don’t bet on it.
Brandon Vera (11-5 [1 NC], 7-5 [1 NC] UFC) Who he’s facing: Eliot Marshall Why he’s in danger: Vera also knows what it’s like to feel the sting of the UFC axe. If not for Thiago Silva’s non-human urine sample, he’d still be out of a job. But fair is fair, and the UFC rightly realized it couldn’t send a guy packing for losing to a juiced-up opponent, so “The Truth” gets one more chance to get it right. Both Vera and trainer Lloyd Irvin say he’s a different man in the gym now that he’s rediscovered his passion and motivation, but we’ve heard that before. The real test is whether he can perform in the cage under such tremendous pressure. The good news for Vera is that Marshall is a very, very beatable opponent. He probably doesn’t have the power or the wrestling chops to make it a ground fight for very long, and on the feet he’s in serious trouble. Or at least, he will be if Vera decides to use all his tools consistently and aggressively. We haven’t seen that in some time, but he has to know it’s now or never. Chances of getting cut: Unlikely. This is Vera’s fight to lose, and I doubt he will. Even if he performs at a fraction of his abilities, it’s probably enough to beat Marshall. It just won’t be enough to stick around for very long after that.
Brandon Vera is back and has stated that this time when he steps into the Octagon, things will be different.Roll your eyes if you’ve heard that one before.It wasn’t that long ago that Vera was cut from the UFC following a brutal loss to Thiago Silva. &…
Brandon Vera is back and has stated that this time when he steps into the Octagon, things will be different.
Roll your eyes if you’ve heard that one before.
It wasn’t that long ago that Vera was cut from the UFC following a brutal loss to Thiago Silva. It seemed like that had been Vera’s last chance and that he had just come up short.
Then it was found out that Thiago Silva had taken steroids before the fight and had subsequently failed the drug test.
The fight was declared a no contest, Silva was fined and suspended and Vera was given another fight by the UFC brass.
And now he is back and claiming he is the Brandon Vera of old. And just like the “old” Brandon Vera, he needs something to use as a reason for why he lost so many fights.
So what did he blame his losing streak on this time?
The home invasion that happened to him three years ago in which he was held at gunpoint while staying in Lloyd Irvin’s house in Maryland. It almost seems like a convenient excuse for him to shrug off responsibility for his losses.
Except this time he really does seem different.
Instead of proudly saying that he will be champ, he stated that he knew he was supposed to win this fight.
He didn’t mention titles or win streaks.
He doesn’t talk about needing to keep the fight standing or working on his ground game.
He just talked about needing to finally feel safe after being held at gunpoint.
About how he finally felt like he could move on after a suspect was arrested.
About how his son had just barely moved on.
It’s a far cry from the Brandon Vera fans have been forced to listen to for so long.
It is refreshing and it feels honest. Vera finally seems to be at peace, and hopefully, win or lose, he’ll be able to keep it.
Something like this, maybe you never really get over it. Maybe you’re not supposed to.
You wake up in the middle of the night to find two men with guns in your house — men who obviously arrived there with a plan, and one which may or may not involve leaving living witnesses to their crime — and right then your whole world has been altered in ways you can’t fully comprehend just yet.
“To this day, I’m still paranoid,” said MMA trainer Lloyd Irvin, who, along with his wife and young son, as well as UFC light heavyweight Brandon Vera, lived this nightmare just a little over three years ago. “It changed our whole lives, how we think about life, about our families, about security and how we stay safe — everything.”
For Vera, it also changed the way he thinks about his MMA career, and not necessarily in any way that’s helpful for a man who makes his living fighting other men inside a cage on Saturday nights. Lately, he’s begun to realize that what happened in Irvin’s house that night didn’t truly end there, and maybe it has more to do with what’s happened to him ever since than he originally allowed himself to believe.
The story, which is now practically a part of MMA lore, goes like this: Lloyd Irvin woke up in the pre-dawn hours of October 4, 2008 to find that two armed men had broken into his suburban Maryland home and were standing over him as he slept. They instructed him to get up and join them as they rounded up the home’s other occupants, which included Irvin’s wife and son, who was then just four years old, as well as Vera, who was staying with Irvin while he did his pre-fight training camp at Irvin’s gym.
While one of the men held Vera and Irvin’s family at gunpoint, the other led Irvin into a back bedroom. That’s when Irvin saw his opening and took it, grabbing for the gun, ejecting the ammunition clip, and wrestling the weapon away from the gunman. Disarmed, the man shouted out a warning to his accomplice and they both fled the house, leaving Irvin, his family, and Vera all unharmed, but badly shaken.
“My son is still traumatized to this day,” said Irvin, who added that both he and his family sought professional psychiatric help after the incident. “We just got him back sleeping in his own room about four or five months ago. About two years ago we got him back in his room for about 30 days, and then one incident where these deer set off the alarm outside the house, after that it went downhill again.”
For Vera, the damage was slightly more subtle. He and Irvin flew to England for the fight with Jardine as scheduled, and he tried his best to carry on as if nothing had happened. He lost the fight via split decision, but that was only the beginning.
“I remember after that fight, going in to train would suck,” Vera said. “I’d be looking at the clock, waiting to leave. Sometimes I didn’t want to go two or three-a-days. I’d be arguing with my coaches or slacking off. I honestly think that it had to do with that home invasion.”
It wasn’t just that he was emotionally traumatized, Vera said, though of course he was. But it was more that, once he realized how easily and suddenly his life could have ended, spending hours in a gym every day didn’t seem like such a good use of his time.
“After that, I don’t think MMA was number one in my life anymore,” said Vera. “After that home invasion, I was like, hey, I could have been dead today, and there’s still so much I want to do. There’s so much I want to experience, so much I want to do with my wife. MMA just wasn’t the number one priority in my life anymore. Without me knowing, my life rearranged itself.”
In theory, this isn’t such a bad revelation. If this were a movie script, it might be just the kind of catalyst that forces the main character to examine his priorities and put the right things first in life. He starts leaving the office early to take long walks in the park. He calls his mother. Everything works out in the end.
In real life, it didn’t happen that way for Vera. Instead of reveling in the impermanence of life, he grew paranoid. As Irvin put it, “[Vera] got really into guns and security and stuff.”
Not that Irvin was exactly ready to give himself over to the worst impulses of his fellow man, either.
“I did some really crazy stuff at the house for home protection,” he said. That included not only a security system that would present a challenge to the Mission: Impossible team, but also a permit to carry a concealed handgun, which isn’t easy to get in Maryland. “For a while I had a protection company follow my wife around,” Irvin added. “It was crazy times.”
As Vera put it, what bothered him most was that he’d left himself so vulnerable, and he never wanted to make the same mistake again.
“They were professionals,” he said. “It was this feeling that I’d been caught out there, no weapon in my hand, no dogs, no gun. I just got caught slipping.”
But as Vera grew more concerned with his own safety and struggled to put his new list of priorities in perspective, his career inside the cage suffered. He won two straight after the Jardine loss, then dropped fights to Randy Couture and Jon Jones before being dominated by Thiago Silva and getting cut by the UFC following his third loss in a row.
As Vera explained, that’s when he knew he’d lost “it.”
“People keep asking me what it is,” he said. “But if you’ve never lost it, there’s no way I can explain what it is.”
Following his dismissal from the UFC, Vera embarked on a road trip across the U.S., teaching seminars at gyms along the way, he said. He drove 8,500 miles in all, and “somewhere along those 8,500 miles is where I found it again.”
“Watching an 11-year-old kid take an adult seminar and do better than the adults because he was so serious and so hungry to learn, it made me happy again,” he said. “It brought me back to that place.”
Vera was also aided by some delayed, though no less satisfying justice. Police arrested a suspect in the home invasion case that they believed was linked to multiple murders in similar situations — a man the local police chief deemed a “serial killer” — who will now spend the rest of his life in prison following sentencing, Irvin said.
On one hand, it shook Vera to know that, had his longtime coach not disarmed the man, they would almost certainly have been killed that night. On the other, Vera said, “I think maybe it was something in my life that I couldn’t get past until those guys got caught.”
Vera got a reprieve in his professional life as well when, nearly three months after the loss to Silva, the Nevada State Athletic Commission revealed that Silva had submitted a sample for testing that was “inconsistent with human urine.” Silva would later cop to steroid use and Vera’s loss would be changed to a no contest. The UFC would also opt to give him another chance in light of this information, welcoming him back to face Eliot Marshall at UFC 137 in Las Vegas this Saturday night.
“It’s not a new chapter; it’s a whole new book,” said Vera. “The path I was on before, I don’t know where I was going or where I got lost. Somewhere I made a left when I should have made a right. I don’t know, but I lost it, and now I’ve found it.”
The change is apparent to Irvin, too, who has had Vera back in his gym in Maryland for a full training camp for the first time since the home invasion incident in 2008. Vera never came out and told him that he’d been hesitant to return because of what happened that night in his house, Irvin said, “but I had a good sense of that. I personally didn’t really want to be in my own house sometimes because of it, so I understood.”
Now Vera is not only back training with him, Irvin said, but he’s actually doing the work because he wants to, rather than simply going through the motions because he has to.
“He’s in the gym 40 minutes or an hour before his training time is supposed to start. He’s putting the time in and enjoying it more,” said Irvin. “It used to be that if he had a bad training day or a bad day in the gym he’d just keep going forward or whatever. Now he’ll text you at midnight asking, ‘The half-guard sweep didn’t work, is my hand in the wrong position?'”
If there was anybody who could understand Vera’s lack of motivation after the home invasion, it was Irvin. The same trauma had touched his life, and still lurks there somewhere under the surface, he said.
“The reality that we could have been dead right then, it makes you think all sorts of things about life and what it means and what you haven’t done yet. When we were being held hostage…you ever see the movies where a guy will go through this montage of his whole life and everything he’s done? That really happened in my mind.”
Now that Vera has worked through some of his issues and is back to training like the man he used to be in the gym, Irvin is “one hundred percent” confident of victory against Marshall, he said.
“If Brandon follows the game plan and does what he’s supposed to do, Eliot’s going to know in the first round, this is wrong, that something’s not right, because this is not where he’s supposed to be. Then he’ll be forced to do some things that we’re anticipating, and Brandon will get the victory. I have no doubt in my mind about that.”
For Vera, the weight of the expectations on him is something that he feels, but insists he isn’t laboring under. This return to the UFC could easily be a one-shot deal, more of an audition for his old spot rather than a guaranteed second chance.
“I’m supposed to win this fight,” he said. “I’m supposed to go in here and hurt Eliot bad. It’s different. It’s not added pressure, it’s just that this is what I was supposed to be doing the whole time. It feels weird. I don’t feel nervous anymore. I just feel like I’m supposed to go in here and whoop his ass.”
Now, just a shade over three years since the incident that made him re-organize his entire life, Vera insists that he’s back to doing the sport because he wants to, and not because he has to.
It’s fitting then that he prepared for this return alongside the man who probably saved his life that night, and who knows all too well what he’s struggled with ever since.
“Brandon’s been with me for a long time, since before he got to the UFC and before everybody knew who he was,” said Irvin. “He’s not just a fighter to me, he’s like a son and a student, and I love him. I just look forward to seeing him rise back up to the top.”
Something like this, maybe you never really get over it. Maybe you’re not supposed to.
You wake up in the middle of the night to find two men with guns in your house — men who obviously arrived there with a plan, and one which may or may not involve leaving living witnesses to their crime — and right then your whole world has been altered in ways you can’t fully comprehend just yet.
“To this day, I’m still paranoid,” said MMA trainer Lloyd Irvin, who, along with his wife and young son, as well as UFC light heavyweight Brandon Vera, lived this nightmare just a little over three years ago. “It changed our whole lives, how we think about life, about our families, about security and how we stay safe — everything.”
For Vera, it also changed the way he thinks about his MMA career, and not necessarily in any way that’s helpful for a man who makes his living fighting other men inside a cage on Saturday nights. Lately, he’s begun to realize that what happened in Irvin’s house that night didn’t truly end there, and maybe it has more to do with what’s happened to him ever since than he originally allowed himself to believe.
The story, which is now practically a part of MMA lore, goes like this: Lloyd Irvin woke up in the pre-dawn hours of October 4, 2008 to find that two armed men had broken into his suburban Maryland home and were standing over him as he slept. They instructed him to get up and join them as they rounded up the home’s other occupants, which included Irvin’s wife and son, who was then just four years old, as well as Vera, who was staying with Irvin while he did his pre-fight training camp at Irvin’s gym.
While one of the men held Vera and Irvin’s family at gunpoint, the other led Irvin into a back bedroom. That’s when Irvin saw his opening and took it, grabbing for the gun, ejecting the ammunition clip, and wrestling the weapon away from the gunman. Disarmed, the man shouted out a warning to his accomplice and they both fled the house, leaving Irvin, his family, and Vera all unharmed, but badly shaken.
“My son is still traumatized to this day,” said Irvin, who added that both he and his family sought professional psychiatric help after the incident. “We just got him back sleeping in his own room about four or five months ago. About two years ago we got him back in his room for about 30 days, and then one incident where these deer set off the alarm outside the house, after that it went downhill again.”
For Vera, the damage was slightly more subtle. He and Irvin flew to England for the fight with Jardine as scheduled, and he tried his best to carry on as if nothing had happened. He lost the fight via split decision, but that was only the beginning.
“I remember after that fight, going in to train would suck,” Vera said. “I’d be looking at the clock, waiting to leave. Sometimes I didn’t want to go two or three-a-days. I’d be arguing with my coaches or slacking off. I honestly think that it had to do with that home invasion.”
It wasn’t just that he was emotionally traumatized, Vera said, though of course he was. But it was more that, once he realized how easily and suddenly his life could have ended, spending hours in a gym every day didn’t seem like such a good use of his time.
“After that, I don’t think MMA was number one in my life anymore,” said Vera. “After that home invasion, I was like, hey, I could have been dead today, and there’s still so much I want to do. There’s so much I want to experience, so much I want to do with my wife. MMA just wasn’t the number one priority in my life anymore. Without me knowing, my life rearranged itself.”
In theory, this isn’t such a bad revelation. If this were a movie script, it might be just the kind of catalyst that forces the main character to examine his priorities and put the right things first in life. He starts leaving the office early to take long walks in the park. He calls his mother. Everything works out in the end.
In real life, it didn’t happen that way for Vera. Instead of reveling in the impermanence of life, he grew paranoid. As Irvin put it, “[Vera] got really into guns and security and stuff.”
Not that Irvin was exactly ready to give himself over to the worst impulses of his fellow man, either.
“I did some really crazy stuff at the house for home protection,” he said. That included not only a security system that would present a challenge to the Mission: Impossible team, but also a permit to carry a concealed handgun, which isn’t easy to get in Maryland. “For a while I had a protection company follow my wife around,” Irvin added. “It was crazy times.”
As Vera put it, what bothered him most was that he’d left himself so vulnerable, and he never wanted to make the same mistake again.
“They were professionals,” he said. “It was this feeling that I’d been caught out there, no weapon in my hand, no dogs, no gun. I just got caught slipping.”
But as Vera grew more concerned with his own safety and struggled to put his new list of priorities in perspective, his career inside the cage suffered. He won two straight after the Jardine loss, then dropped fights to Randy Couture and Jon Jones before being dominated by Thiago Silva and getting cut by the UFC following his third loss in a row.
As Vera explained, that’s when he knew he’d lost “it.”
“People keep asking me what it is,” he said. “But if you’ve never lost it, there’s no way I can explain what it is.”
Following his dismissal from the UFC, Vera embarked on a road trip across the U.S., teaching seminars at gyms along the way, he said. He drove 8,500 miles in all, and “somewhere along those 8,500 miles is where I found it again.”
“Watching an 11-year-old kid take an adult seminar and do better than the adults because he was so serious and so hungry to learn, it made me happy again,” he said. “It brought me back to that place.”
Vera was also aided by some delayed, though no less satisfying justice. Police arrested a suspect in the home invasion case that they believed was linked to multiple murders in similar situations — a man the local police chief deemed a “serial killer” — who will now spend the rest of his life in prison following sentencing, Irvin said.
On one hand, it shook Vera to know that, had his longtime coach not disarmed the man, they would almost certainly have been killed that night. On the other, Vera said, “I think maybe it was something in my life that I couldn’t get past until those guys got caught.”
Vera got a reprieve in his professional life as well when, nearly three months after the loss to Silva, the Nevada State Athletic Commission revealed that Silva had submitted a sample for testing that was “inconsistent with human urine.” Silva would later cop to steroid use and Vera’s loss would be changed to a no contest. The UFC would also opt to give him another chance in light of this information, welcoming him back to face Eliot Marshall at UFC 137 in Las Vegas this Saturday night.
“It’s not a new chapter; it’s a whole new book,” said Vera. “The path I was on before, I don’t know where I was going or where I got lost. Somewhere I made a left when I should have made a right. I don’t know, but I lost it, and now I’ve found it.”
The change is apparent to Irvin, too, who has had Vera back in his gym in Maryland for a full training camp for the first time since the home invasion incident in 2008. Vera never came out and told him that he’d been hesitant to return because of what happened that night in his house, Irvin said, “but I had a good sense of that. I personally didn’t really want to be in my own house sometimes because of it, so I understood.”
Now Vera is not only back training with him, Irvin said, but he’s actually doing the work because he wants to, rather than simply going through the motions because he has to.
“He’s in the gym 40 minutes or an hour before his training time is supposed to start. He’s putting the time in and enjoying it more,” said Irvin. “It used to be that if he had a bad training day or a bad day in the gym he’d just keep going forward or whatever. Now he’ll text you at midnight asking, ‘The half-guard sweep didn’t work, is my hand in the wrong position?'”
If there was anybody who could understand Vera’s lack of motivation after the home invasion, it was Irvin. The same trauma had touched his life, and still lurks there somewhere under the surface, he said.
“The reality that we could have been dead right then, it makes you think all sorts of things about life and what it means and what you haven’t done yet. When we were being held hostage…you ever see the movies where a guy will go through this montage of his whole life and everything he’s done? That really happened in my mind.”
Now that Vera has worked through some of his issues and is back to training like the man he used to be in the gym, Irvin is “one hundred percent” confident of victory against Marshall, he said.
“If Brandon follows the game plan and does what he’s supposed to do, Eliot’s going to know in the first round, this is wrong, that something’s not right, because this is not where he’s supposed to be. Then he’ll be forced to do some things that we’re anticipating, and Brandon will get the victory. I have no doubt in my mind about that.”
For Vera, the weight of the expectations on him is something that he feels, but insists he isn’t laboring under. This return to the UFC could easily be a one-shot deal, more of an audition for his old spot rather than a guaranteed second chance.
“I’m supposed to win this fight,” he said. “I’m supposed to go in here and hurt Eliot bad. It’s different. It’s not added pressure, it’s just that this is what I was supposed to be doing the whole time. It feels weird. I don’t feel nervous anymore. I just feel like I’m supposed to go in here and whoop his ass.”
Now, just a shade over three years since the incident that made him re-organize his entire life, Vera insists that he’s back to doing the sport because he wants to, and not because he has to.
It’s fitting then that he prepared for this return alongside the man who probably saved his life that night, and who knows all too well what he’s struggled with ever since.
“Brandon’s been with me for a long time, since before he got to the UFC and before everybody knew who he was,” said Irvin. “He’s not just a fighter to me, he’s like a son and a student, and I love him. I just look forward to seeing him rise back up to the top.”
LAS VEGAS — This is the UFC 137 live blog for the four non-televised bouts in support of tonight’s UFC pay-per-view card at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
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Something like this, maybe you never really get over it. Maybe you’re not supposed to.